Local food for sustainable communities

Discussion in 'The big picture' started by Michaelangelica, Jan 5, 2010.

  1. Michaelangelica

    Michaelangelica Junior Member

    Joined:
    May 2, 2006
    Messages:
    4,771
    Likes Received:
    10
    Trophy Points:
    0
    https://www.sciencealert.com.au/fea...lert-latestnews+(ScienceAlert-Latest+Stories)
    Making city space work

    But can food forests, green roofs, backyard veggie patches and community gardens realistically feed the tens of millions predicted to live in the cities of the near future?

    Yes, says Kirsten Larsen, an expert in sustainable food systems and Eco-Innovation Policy Research Manager at Melbourne University’s Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab (VEIL).
     
  2. raincrow

    raincrow Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 29, 2009
    Messages:
    54
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Very good article, thanks for posting it. Here's another part of it I found interesting.

    I take it that over the centuries, abundance of food and birth rates for all species were a natural cycle, and now year round availability of food for humans gives a false sense of abundance and causes birth rates to increase........ I'm just curious, here in the states we get a lot of off-season produce from south america and mexico. What about Australia?
     
  3. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

    Joined:
    May 14, 2004
    Messages:
    3,464
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    g'day michael,

    yes local staple foods grown by market gardener farmers for their local community, even small dairy farms dealing direct to the local community, eggs and all just like back in the 40's and 50's before cosmopolitanisation occured! when in brissy the markets where situated in the city near a train station so all could go there, and they ahd bloke who would deliver you purchases up to teh right platform and put it on the trolley that the railways provided, and when the train came lad porters (remember them they are extinct now employment lost) would load your stuff onto the train, and at the other end unload it onto a trolley provided and you wheeled it to your car, now you can't get to the markets and if you can you get to pay to enter. when the local farmer sold at the gate or off his truck a couple of times a week, where the dairy farmer delivered fresh unadulterated milk to the door in s/s billy cans, and we simply walked t the egg farm for as fresh as eggs, not a chemical insite. yes properties where no less than 30 perches insize with modest 3 or 4 bedroom homes on them so all could grow fruit trees, vege's and have choocks. and enough room for the kids a dog or 2 and mum's rose garden as well

    then the rot set in as developers and planners when rife and "we had to grow up" or be known as a hick backwater in the big bad world of design. imagine the example we could be showing now if we had not changed hey? even though food is geting dearer due to long distances from consumers tables and he added cost of cold storage for up to 2 years those who plan still can't see it hey? they can't see that what they have created can't last it is un-sustainable.

    yu can't expect them to be planning to have food growing space when they can't even work out that the homes they design are too expensive and wastefull of resources.

    bring back the hick backwater, before we sink lets get back to the past so we can move on into the future.

    len
     
  4. Mungbeans

    Mungbeans Junior Member

    Joined:
    Feb 27, 2006
    Messages:
    291
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    We want to sell from our farm gate but can't until we lodge a development application ($80 app fee) with council and provide full details of parking, insurance, etc. The council has a 'buy local' policy but discourages farmers from selling direct to the public.
     
  5. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 9, 2009
    Messages:
    5,925
    Likes Received:
    9
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Pomegranates from California, Kiwi Fruit from NZ, Asparagus from Peru.... the list is endless. We've become so accustomed to out of season imports that no one knows what is in season any more.

    I was in Iran a few years back and was impressed that EVERYTHING was produced locally. Trade embargoes have their upsides I guess. They'll survive much better that the USA or Oz will when peak oil starts to bite.
     
  6. raincrow

    raincrow Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 29, 2009
    Messages:
    54
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Thats interesting, did you get an idea as to how they were dealing with soil fertility in that closed system?
     
  7. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

    Joined:
    May 14, 2004
    Messages:
    3,464
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    yes mungbeans they have it all topsy turvey but that is what they want to control us, by farm gate could mean drive onto the farm of course. just shows they aren't even considering food miles or sustainability.

    and eco, yes we get grapes, oranges, garlic and cherries from the US, oranges from israel, garlic and other stuff from china (who'd realy eat any of that?) and we never buy any imported products it is not sustainable nor efficient. also milk from new zealand, and produce from all points of australia, all to name a few of course. oh fresh frozen fish of all sorts from new zealand, malaysian and thailand farms & waterways, even our renowned barramundi. one major sells fresh frozen barra' when it is full price about $28 per kilo it is wild caught (their statement) from asutralia, when it goes on 1/2 price special it is all farmed fish from thailand (note read fine print) the aussie stuff has some flavour that other none.

    then when you look at processed foods that is another quandry, asparagus in jars from peru, in tins from china, prunes from USA dried apricotts from someplace else, lots of stuff from china again we never buy that.

    none of it sustainable.

    sadly the majority of our communities could care less, so long as there is food on shelves to buy they'll wear the pain of not fresh and too expensive.

    len
     
  8. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 9, 2009
    Messages:
    5,925
    Likes Received:
    9
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Raincrow - I only got to hang around Tehran and Esfahan for 2 weeks and I don't speak Farsi - so I have no idea about their horticultural practices. I had a German born woman with me one day acting as interpreter and we went to the Bazaar which was full of magnificent fresh food. I bought fabrics while I was with her and that was produced locally too. All the bottles and tins on the shelves said product of Iran.

    It's a fascinating place and I'd love to go back - when they stop arresting foreigners that is....

    Len - it is sad isn't it? When / if peak oil happens then we'll see the REAL price of imported food - like the destruction of our local farming industries.
     
  9. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

    Joined:
    May 14, 2004
    Messages:
    3,464
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    sadder still eco',

    farmers so driven by peer pressure that they won't even begin to come outside the box and the comfort zone, and start to realise if they don't move their farms closer to the tables it will grace, by the time it becomes painfully obvious to the inefficient agricultural, sorry unsustainable agricultural system they will be bankrupt. out stanthorpe way the other side of the world from brissy, they just go along with the idea if growing fruit fails then they'll start up yet another yuppie winery, tourist miles will bite just the same as food miles(hand in blove), people will not be able to afford to go long distances for holidays, so thsoe close in wineries are the boom people the others are missing the bus, same as any other farmers who stick close to growing communitites, they too will be winners.

    bit slow responding having phone line and inernet occect problems ahve done for over 3 years now ans they don't seem to be able to much more than make it worse and worse, we live in the 'burb's and have the worst most unreliebal adsl internet connection bigpiddle has ever provided. so if they can't get modern technology right how teh heck are they ever going to get feeding us right? beaten by technology, they still bill us monthly.

    len
     
  10. Terra

    Terra Moderator

    Joined:
    May 16, 2007
    Messages:
    757
    Likes Received:
    23
    Trophy Points:
    18
    First thing that needs to happen is stop putting concrete and bitumin and houses on the best land , how do i move my farm 600 kms and why would i want to live near the city anyway , crime , noise , congestion , madness , oh thats right thats why i moved away in the first place .
    Terra
     

Share This Page

-->